The Sharks are going to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2004 and Saturday night they vanquished the Detroit Red Wings to get there, beating their longtime rival 2-1.

The goals came off the sticks of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau while goalie Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves to pin down the victory.

The Sharks have disappointed their fans the past four seasons with early playoff exits under frustrating circumstances. But that wasn't the case Saturday night.

The victory came 48 hours after San Jose was humbled 7-1 in Joe Louis Arena and Sharks coach Todd McLellan's biggest task since then was to make sure his team had put Thursday night's 7-1 loss behind it.

Before the game, he said that involved working on both the technical and mental aspects of the game, some of that in individual meetings with players.

"It's our job as a coaching staff to try and help them," McLellan said. "That can be two ways, technically -- be in this position or that position -- but it also can be massaging the mind a little bit, letting them know that we believe in them or saying, hey, you're better than what you've been."

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His players must have gotten that message as the Sharks came out with a strong effort, outshooting Detroit 15-6 in what ended up as a scoreless first period.

Not that the Sharks didn't come close to beating Red Wing rookie Jimmy Howard. Thornton hit the far post with a backhand shot from just outside the crease at 11:12 and defenseman Rob Blake chipped a deflection of a centering pass over the net shortly after that.

The second period belonged to Detroit, however, as the Red Wings showed the skill and turned on the speed that carried it to victory in Game 4.

Unlike the Sharks, however, the Red Wings were able to cash in at 2:40 on a play that took advantage of the fact Johan Franzen knocked Joe Thornton's stick out of his hand.

While Thornton was retrieving it, Rafalski launched a shot from the blue line that deflected off Patrick Marleau's stick in the high slot and found the back of the San Jose net.

The Sharks got that one back at 4:54, however, with Red Wing defenseman Brad Stuart in the penalty box for elbowing Joe Pavelski. Defenseman Jason Demers fired a shot from the blue line and Dany Heatley guided the rebound to Thornton and he punched it in the open side of the net.

The goal was Thornton's third of the post-season, tying the most he's had in one year when he was with Boston in 1999.

San Jose had a chance to take the lead early in the third period when Pavelski stole the puck from Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall at the Red Wing blue line and skated in all alone on Howard, only to be hooked from behind Kronwall.

Howard made the save on the penalty shot that followed, however.

The Sharks did take the lead for the first time at 6:59 when Heatley and the Red Wings battled for the puck behind the Detroit net, only to have it end up on Thornton's stick. He found Marleau all alone in the slot and Marleau one-timed the shot past Howard on the glove side.

Detroit ended up with a six on four advantage for the final 51.5 seconds when they pulled Howard and defenseman Dan Boyle was whistled for holding. But the Red Wings couldn't muster any good scoring chances and Pavelski ended the final threat by firing the puck down the ice with two seconds left.